Seat cushions, and particularly bicycle seats, are particularly uncomfortable during prolonged periods of use. The physical action of the legs in pedaling increases the discomfort.
In order to overcome the recognized discomfort associated with bicycle seats, a number of bicycle seats have been designed which are intended to conform to the buttocks of the user. Bicycle seats have been created which are molded to the contours of the user's buttocks. However, such seats are expensive, and require a great deal of time and expense to manufacture the seats on an individual basis. Further, even if such bicycle seats were perfectly adapted to the buttocks of the user, while the shape of the seat may stay constant, the shape of the buttocks may vary over time, and the desired shape may vary depending on the clothing that is worn.
Air filled bicycle seats have been attempted such as in the patent to Noyes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,851. While such a bicycle seat does permit conforming the shape of the seat to the buttocks, it does have a number of the substantial disadvantages. In the absence of the ability to control the interior structure of the seat, the distortion of the seat depends principally on the flexibility of the material used. If the material is too thin, then sitting on the seat would be comparable to sitting on a balloon, with air being forced out of one portion of the seat and forced into another portion of the seat, repeatedly varying the shape of the seat. If the material is too rigid, then the comfort of the seat and the inability of the seat to conform to the shape of the buttocks would be greatly reduced. Further, the use of the relatively rigid support plate allows the balance to be maintained.
Further, the manufacture of the bicycle seat of Noyes device requires numerous steps, which would increase the cost of manufacturing the seat.